Gissing gets Irish call as Leinster run riot

Leinster 55 Gwent Dragons 3

He replaces Leo Cullen who has withdrawn from the squad through injury, while Brian O’Driscoll, rested for last night’s Leinster win at Lansdowne Road, has also been given the thumbs up for the Rome encounter.

As for yesterday’s game itself, it can’t be easy for any provincial coach to wave goodbye to his prized assets midway through the season, but Leinster’s Irish contingent did at least leave Declan Kidney with some fond memories of them as they report for duty for the upcoming Six Nations.

The 55 points racked up against the Dragons was Leinster’s third-highest points total this year and their highest of all in the Celtic League. Seven tries for and none conceded makes for pretty reading, not to mention the fact that none of Eddie O’Sullivan’s squad men picked up a serious injury ahead of the trip to Rome.

Shane Horgan may have been called ashore shortly after his second try early in the second half with a slight strain, but that was down to prudence more than panic. For all that, it sets Leinster up nicely for the remainder of the Celtic League, in which the province will reconvene in three weeks’ time away to Edinburgh.

“We had an aim at the start of the season to get into the top four of the league because of the ramifications that would have for the Celtic Cup and that would be a good competition to finish off the season with,” said Kidney. “If you could get a home draw in that you’d be well set up for a real go at that.

“We didn’t get scores in the first 20 but I thought we did a fair bit of damage all the same because we ran at them directly and you can only defend like that for so long. We were punching holes from the start.

“We had a few turnovers all right that could have been costly, but we were able to get those scores in the second 20 of the first half because we imposed ourselves so well in the first 20.”

“It was a tough game for us to go out and perform in but we worked hard for a couple of days beforehand to really focus ourselves and we did that in the first 10 minutes,” added Malcolm O’Kelly. “We just built from there. The lads were playing with a good bit of enjoyment and aggression and it worked out well in the end.

“It’s great to beat them and get a bit of distance between us and the other sides looking for a place in the top four. The league may be a bit beyond us at this stage but getting in the top four and securing a home berth for the Celtic Cup quarter-final is something we really have to aim for.”

In the match itself the Leinster pack got down to the nitty-gritty, Shane Byrne found his targets and the scrum was strong. The backs? It’s possible there isn’t a unit in the Heineken Cup to touch them.

LEINSTER: G Dempsey, S Horgan, F Contepomi, G D’Arcy, D Hickie, D Holwell, G Easterby, R Corrigan (captain), S Byrne, E Byrne, B Gissing, M O’Kelly, C Potts, E Miller, N Ronan. Replacements: G Brown for Horgan (50, injured), R Nebbett for Corrigan, D Blaney for Byrne, A McCullen for Ronan, V Costello for Miller, B O’Riordan for Easterby (all 67).

GWENT DRAGONS: S Tuipulotu, G Wyatt, P Montgomery, S Winn, B Breeze, C Warlow, G Baber, R Snow, J Richards, C Anthony, N Edwards, P Sidoli, J Ringer, R Oakley, J Forster (captain). Replacements: C Crawford for Richards, M Veater for Ringer (both 68).

Referee: D. Changleng (Scotland).